Concealed emekgency-exit latch



y 16, 1929- c. J. PRINZLER 1,721,489

CONCEALED EMERGENCY EXIT LATCH Filed March l2, 1928 Patented July 16, 1929.

UNITED: STATES PATENT. 1 OFFICE.

CARL J. PRINZLER, OF INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA, ASSIG-NOR TO VONNEGUT HARDWARE COMPANY.

0.13 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF' INDIANA.

' coN'oEALEn EMEItGENCY-EXIT LATCH.

Application filed Marclr 12, 19 28. Serial No. 26 0, 937.

There is at the present time a distinct tendency towards the utilization of all-metal doors in building ctmstruction', not only in storage and ollice buildings but also in build ings of the finer type, for'instanee hotels, lhrz'itrcs, and even residences, and inmany instances the scheme of decoration requires that, even though the door shall be latched in such position as to be readily yieldable :in case of panic or fire, the latching mechanism shall be as unobtrusive as possible.

The obj ect of my present invention is therefore to produce an emergency exit all-metal. door structure of such character as to hide from View all elements of the latching mechanism excepting only the main actuating bar and its supporting plate.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention. Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an emergency exit door embodyingmy invention Fig. 2 a. vertical section at the middle plane of the latching mechanism; Fig. 3 an elevation, in, partial. vertical section, of the parts shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 a fragmentary vert1- cal section adjacent one of the latches; Fig. 5 a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 a fragmentary section below the plane 6-6 of Fig. 2; Fig. 7 a section on line 77 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings 10 and 11 indicate the inne and outer plates respectively of a metal door, said plates being paneled as desired by depressed portions and. secured together by channels 13, the channels forming the vertical edges of the door being arranged. with their arms extending inwardly, while the channels at the upper and lower edges of the door are arranged with their arms extending outwardly, as indica ted in Fig. 4, so as to form pockets for the reception of parts ofthe hidden latcl'iing mechanism now to be described.

The upper channel. .13 near the free edge of the door is periloralcd at 14 to receive the main body of a latch casing 15 provided with laterally extended arms 16 which may be securedv to the channel 13 by screws 17. Pivotally supported in casing 15 is a swinging latch bolt 18 connected. by a link 19 with a lever 20 pivoted at 21 in casing 15 and connected by link E2 2 with a vertically sliding rod 23, the upper end of which projected through a guide opening 24 formed in the lower end of casing 15. Similarly, at the bottom of the door-{is a latch casing which projected thrm'gh a perforation 14 in the lo weir channel j! 3. (losing; 51 l pmvidml with oppositely extending arms 31, like arms 16', which are seen red to the lower channel by screws '32. Piv= otally mounted'in easing 30'is a'latchb0lt'33 connected bya linlr34 with the lower end of a rod 35 which isVerticallyslidable'through and guided by the perforation 36 int-he up per wall of casing 30.

Secured to the lower end of rod 23 by a screw 40 is a tubular head 41 provided with a pair of laterally separated depending fingers 42 connected at their lower ends by a cross bar 43, thefingers 42 straddling a guide pin 44 which is part of the casing 45 in which the head 41 is sli dably mounted. Slidably mounted in the lower end of casing 45 is a tubular head 50, similar to head 41 and to which the upper end of rod 35 is secured by screw 51. Head provided with a pair of laterally separated lingers 52, 52 connected by a cross bar 53 having a portion which overhangs and normally rests upon the upper face of the cross bar 43. The interior of casing 45 and the overlapped ends of the two heads 41 and 50 are covered by removable cover plate 55 held in place by a screw 56, the plate 55 havportions of the two heads.

Projected through perforation 57 between fingers 52 beneath cross bar 53 and into engagen'ient with the lower face of cross bar 43 is an operating lever 60 pivoted at 61 and guided between the ears 62 of an escutcheon plate 63 secured to the inner face of the door in. the usual manner, the plate 10 of said door having a suitable perforation 64 through which. the inner end of the lever may be projected and of snllicient size to permit the insertion o F the casing 45 into the space between the two plates 10 and 11 of the door. Lover 60 at its exposed end is a downwardly and outwardly extending arm'GO' towhieh are secured two tubular cross bars 66, 66, the opposite ends l'x-iing secured to an arm 67 pivoted in the usual manner to a plate 68 secured to the face of the door, the bars 66 extending practically across the entire face of the-door in the usual manner at a suitable height to be surely engaged by any one who should be forced in a panic against the inner face of the door.

There are times when it is desirable to put the latching mechanism out of commission and for that purpose there is threaded into one of the cars 62, eccentric to the "ji'v otal axis l'il. a loom. pin 70 which may is sewn into a suitably placed pocket 71 formed in lever 60, as shown in Fig. 7, the outer face of the locking pin being provided with a pair of pockets 73 arranged to receive a suitably formed pin wrench.

In order to normally bias the lever 60 to extended position I provide a coiled spring one end of which engages plate 63 and the other end engages a pin 81 on the lever 60, the spring being retained in place by supporting it upon pivot 61.

Cross head 4C3 needs to be accurately placed relative to lever 60 and for that reason I secure to the inner face of plate 11 of the door, opposite the perforation 6%: of plate 10, a trough-like receiver the upper edges of the side walls of which are outwardly flared as shown at 91 in Fig, (3. Casing L5 is also provided, at the upper edges of its side walls with upwardly and outwardly flaring lips 92. Portions 91 are then provided with threaded perforations adapted to receive the cl amping screws 93 which pass through slots 9a;- in the lips 92. The flaring arrangement of the portions 91 and 92 permit easy access to screws 93 through perforation (i l.

The construction and arrangement is such that pressure exerted upon bars 66 towards the face of the door will cause the inner end of lever 60 to move cross bars 43 and 53 upwardly, thus retracting the latch bolts 18 and 33 and,-because of the-one-way connection be tween the two cross bars 43 and 58 and the one-way action of lever 60 on said cross bars, the lower latch may be in dependently moved upwardly into the interior of the door so that in case the strike, which cooperates witn the lower latch bolt 33, becomes filled with dirt, a proper functioning of the upper latch bolt 18 will not be interfered with.

It has been found in practice that the various moving parts of apparatus of this-kind must be inspected from time to time in order to make sure that they are properly lubricated and in proper adjustmentso that the latch bolts may at all times properly cooperate with their strikes an d at all times be properly yieldable to an actuation due to pressure exerted upon the cross bars 66 because the primary function. of the apparatus is to in sure a proper yielding of the door outwardly in case of sudden need due to the existence of a panic within doors and it is for that reason that the various constructions and arrange. ments, to which attention has been called, have been provided.

For instance, the formation of pockets in the'upper and lower edges of the door, by inversion of the channels 13., from their usual arrangement, is important because it then becomes possible to so mount the latch bolt casings 15 and 30 that they may be readily withdrawn, by removal of 'he screws 17, which are readily accessible from the edge of the door, and withdrawal of the screws 10 an d 51 which are readily access ble through the opening (i l when plate (33 is re loved. 'lhe casing to is also readily accessible, either for removal as a whole from trough 90 by with drawal of screws 93 accessible through opening of, or by removal of screw 56 and plate which are also accessible through opening 6 1-. Yet all of this construction is entirely hidden so that the surface of the door is left free for such ornamentation as will harmonize with the wall surfaces of the exterior and interior of the room.

It will be noticed that by placing the boltoperz'iting mechanism within the interior of the door it becomes possible, withii'i the practical limits of operative leverages, to place the pivotal axis of the actuating lever (30 at the inner side of the escutcheon plate 63, instead of beyond the outer face of that plate as has heretofore always been necessary. As a consequence the external end 60 of the actuating lever (30 may be so formed and arranged that even when projected to its outermost position the cross bars 66 supported thereby do not lie as far from the inner face of the door as hasheretofore always been found to be necessary and, when the cross bars are forced to their unlocking position and there locked by pin 70, the cross bars 6? lie practically against the inner face of the door.

The importance of this construction will become apparent when attention is called to the fact that the exit value of a door opening isdetermined by the amount of free space between the door jamb and the opened door, and of course this freespace is determined by the amount of projection of the cross bar (36 from the face of the door. If now, there he say a theatre or auditorium in which one side wall contains ten pairs of 't doors a gain of one inch in the amount or projection of the ac tuating bar will result in a saving of twenty inches in such an arrangement, thus making it possible to place an additioiial row of seats across the entire width. of the aiulitorii'un without in any way decre; sing the exit value of the exits.

I claim as my invention:

1. An emergency exit structure comprising a swinging hollow metal door having pockets in its upper and lower edges, and having an opening through one faceplate giving access to the interior of the door at an intermediate point in its height, a pair of latch bolt casings mounted within the interior of the door, one in each of said pockets, means accessible from the exterior for detachably securing said latch bolt pockets in place, actuating elements for said latch belts with their adjacent ends arranged opposite the intermediate opening in the face of said door, means accessible through said opening and within the door, for guiding said actuating elements, connections between said actuating elements and the respective latch bolts whereby the weigliits of certain elements actto project the bolts, an externally accessible actuating member havin'ga portion projected through said intermediate opening and into indcpemlent one-way cooperative relation with each of said interior actuating elements, and. a cover plate for said intermediate opening independent of the guides for the actuating elements, said cover plate forming a support for said externally accessible actuating element, and externally accessible means, independent of the guides for the actiilating elements, for normally retaining the cover plate in place.

2. An emergency exit structure comprising a swinging hollow metal door having pockets in its upper and lower edges and having an opening through one face plate giving access to the interior of the door at an intermediate point in its height, a pair of latch bolt casings mounted within the interior of the door, one in each of said pockets, means accessible from the exterior for detachably securing said latch bolt pockets in place, a verticallyarranged trough mounted within the door opposite the intermediate opening, a casing mounted in said trough, means accessible through said intermediate opening for vertieally adjustably securing said casing to the trough within the door, a pair of latchactuating heads slidably mounted in said casing and havinga one-way overlapping. interengagement, a cover plate for said intermediate opening, an actuating lever pivotally supported by said cover plate and having one end projected through said intermediate opening and into a one-way engagement with said sliding heads, an externally accessible member carried by said. actuating lever, and connections between saidv sliding heads and the respective latch bolts.

3. An emergency exit structure comprls ing a swinging hollowmetal door, a latch mounted within the door and projectable and retractable therefrom, an actuating lever having one portion projectable into the intcriouof the door and another portion exposed at the face of the door, a support for said lever adapted to be secured to the face of the door, said support providing a pivotal .mounting for the actuating lever parallel with and at a point between the faces of the door, and means actuable by the inner end of the lever for retracting the latch bolt.

4L. An. emergency door retaining means comprising a latch-bolt housing and contained latch formed for mounting within the interior of a door between its faces, an actuating rod guided at one end in said housing, connections between said rod end and the latch such that the weight of the rod will normally project the latch, an independent guide structure adapted to be secured within the interior of a door, and injectible into said interior through an opening independcnt of the association between said head and actuating member.

5. An. emergency door retaining means comprising a guide structure adapted to be mounted in the interior of a'door and injectible into said interior through an opening through one face of thc'door, a two-part latehaictuating member adaptedto lie in the interior of a door, one part thereof being:

s] idably guided in the guide structure, a cover plate for said opening, an external actuating member carried by said plate and cooperating with the guided element of the two-part memher, and a connection accessible through said opening between the two parts of the two partmember of such character that the effec- Live lengthof said two-part'member may be 7 adj usted without regard to the coactive'relw' tion between said two-part member and the external actuating member.

6. An emergency door retaining means comprising a guide structure adapted to be mounted ,in the interior of a door and injectible into said. interior through an opening through one face of the door, a two-part latch-actuating member adapted to lie in the interior of a door, one part thereof being slidably and non-rotatively guided in the.

guide structure, a cover plate for said open-.

ing, an external.actuating member carrietl by said plate and cooperating with the guided element of the two-part member, and a con nection accessible through saidopeningbetween the two parts of'the two-part member of such character that the effective length of said two-part member may be adjusted without regard to the coactive relation between said two-part member and the external actuating member. I

7. A. structure of the character defined in claim 6 wherein. the two parts of the two-part member are telescoped together and a retaining screw accessible through the opening in the face of the door serves to hold the two parts in adjusted relation.

8. An emergency door retaining device comprising a perforated cover plate. formed for attachment to the inner face of a door over an opening through said face, an ear carried by the under face of said plate adjacent the perforation, an L-shaped actuating lever having one arm projected through said perforation, a pivotal connection between said arm and ear parallel with the plane of the cover plate and intermediate the length of the arm, and a ha11dbar carried by the outer depending arm of the L-shaped lever and parallel with the plane of the cover plate.

9. An emergency door retaining device comprising a guide structure adapted to be mounted in the interior of a door and injectible into said interior through an opening through one face of the door, a latch-actuating element slidably mounted in said guide structure, a base trough adapted to be secured to the inner face of a face forming element of the door and slidably associated with the guide structure, and means accessible through the said opening torholding the guide structure in adjusted position in the base trough.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 9th day of March, A. D. one thousand nine hundied and twenty-cight.

CARL J. PRINZLER. 

